MAG has Dead Arm; Amaro Says Franco’s Not Ready

-When word spread last summer that the Phillies were nearing a deal with Cuban pitcher Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, much of the fan base looked at the move as a progressive step for a franchise that recently had been lax when it came to the open market in the Caribbean. It’s still early, but it’s nearing the stage where the MAG signing could be looked at as a mistake.

The Phillies signed him to a three year, $12 million contract and he’s barely been able to throw this season. Ruben Amaro Jr. stated on Tuesday that Gonzalez complained of dead arm and is back in Philadelphia to have it checked. “Hopefully it’s nothing serious,” Amaro stated.

-Amaro also spoke of The Man Who Will Save Everything, Maikel Franco. Ryne Sandberg was asked about the future MLB’er prior to Amaro and was non-committal. Amaro was much more definitive in his stance with Franco.

“He’s just not playing good enough baseball yet, he’s not really ready to be a big leaguer yet. There’s no reason to bring [Franco] unless he’s ready to be a big leaguer as far as I’m concerned. If he puts together a few days. Offensively, he’s made some adjustments, he’s made some improvements better than in the earlier part of the season, but he’s not really going on all cylinders now. We’re still contemplating it. We’ll see how it goes.”

That may not make the fan base all that happy, but if he’s hitting .231 at Triple-A, he’s probably not quite there. But he clearly is close because the organization is contemplating it. We could see him sooner than later.